Page:In the Roar of the Sea.djvu/286

278 "It is a most awkward complication. Never heard of such a case before. Don't you think that after a good night's rest and a good supper—and let me advise a stiff glass of something warm, taken medicinally, you understand—that you will come round to a better mind."

"To another mind I shall not come round. I suppose I am half married—never by my will shall that half be made into a whole."

"And what do you want me to do?" asked Mr. Mules, thoroughly put out of his self-possession by this extraordinary scene.

"Nothing," answered Judiah, "save to bear testimony that I utterly and entirely refuse to complete the marriage which was half done—by answering to those questions with a consent, which I failed to answer in church because I fainted, and to wear the ring which was forced on me when I was insensible, and to sign the register now I am in full possession of my wits. We will detain you no longer."

Judith left along with Jamie and Mr. Menaida, and Mr. Mules returned to his sermon. He pulled at his pipe till the almost expired fire was rekindled into glow, and he mixed himself a little more brandy and water. Then with his pipe in the corner of his mouth he looked at his discourse. It did not quite please him, it was undigested.

"Dear me!" said Mr. Desiderius. "My mind is all of a whirl, and I can do nothing to this now. It must go as it is—yet stay, I'll change the title. General Piety is rather pointless. I'll call it Practical Piety."

Judith returned to Pentyre Glaze. She was satisfied with what she had done; anger and indignation were in her heart. The man to whom she had given her hand had enlisted her poor brother in the wicked work of luring unfortunate sailors to their destruction. She could hardly conceive of anything more diabolical than this form of wrecking: her Jamie was involved in the crime of drawing men to their death. A ship had been wrecked, she knew that by the minute guns, and if lives were lost from it, the guilt in a measure rested on the head of Jamie. But for her intervention he would have been taken in the act of showing light to mislead mariners, and would certainly have been brought before magistrates and most probably have been imprisoned. The thought